At least 22 killed in Guinea-Bissau after vehicle hits landmine

BISSAU (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed in Guinea-Bissau when a vehicle taking them to a funeral struck a landmine, a police source said on Saturday.

The incident happened on Friday afternoon near Mansoa, about 60 km (37 miles) northeast of the capital, Bissau.

The police source, who asked not to be named, said 19 people were killed on the spot when the blast tore the vehicle in two and a further three people died of their injuries overnight.

There was no immediate statement from the government.

Hundreds of people have been killed by landmines laid during Guinea-Bissau’s independence war with Portugal in the 1970s and the nation’s internal conflicts in the 1990s.

Guinea-Bissau held elections earlier this year meant to draw a line under the country’s last coup in 2012.

The new government is trying to push through a raft of reforms, including breathing life into a moribund economy and asserting civilian authority over the military, which has a history of meddling in politics and cocaine trafficking.

(This story corrects to say Mansoa is northeast of Bissau, not northwest)

Reporting by Alberto Dabo; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by David Holmes